You'll Never Believe What Is Inspiring More Americans to Get Active -- Well, Actually, You Will

So it appears that Americans are getting a little more active. A report released May 23 by the Physical Activity Council, made up of eight sports industry associations, found the number of inactive Americans dropped to 81.6 million in 2015, down from 82.7 million in 2014, which was the highest number the survey had found. "Inactive" means someone participate in zero out of 104 designated activities over the course of a year, which means if you do one of them once, you're active for the purpose of this survey, though not for the purpose of a healthy life.

46% of all the growth came from people using firearms -- shooting (sport clays), shooting (trap/skeet), hunting (hand gun), and target shooting (handgun)

Four of the top eight growth activities for 1+ time participants were with people using firearms

Yes, the Second Amendment is making its way toward becoming the Great American Pastime, especially as baseball was among 17 other sports -- including football and basketball -- out of 24 tracked that have seen youth participation drop over the last five years.

The second factor is the money the gun industry is putting toward shooting sports. This is happening as a lot of schools cut back on sports or institute pay-to-play fees to fund them, or as an emphasis on high-priced travel sports weeds out more kids (particularly from poorer families) at earlier ages. From the Washington Post:

The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), a powerful firearms lobbying group, has awarded more than $1 million in grants since 2009 to start about 80 programs. A couple who own a large firearms accessories company created the ­MidwayUSA Foundation, funding it with nearly $100 million to help youth and college programs, including MIT’s. The National Rifle Association organizes pistol and rifle tournaments, including the national championships next weekend in Fort Benning, Ga.

Zach Snow, who oversees the college shooting program for the NSSF, said, “This is something the industry overlooked for a number of years.”

And now that the industry is paying attention, the growth has been phenomenal. The upcoming collegiate clay target championships —George Mason has won 11 titles, including in 2013 — has swelled from a few hundred shooters in 2010 to more than 700 this year.

Of course, the gun industry's support of shooting sports is not merely about competition. It's about growing its base of gun owners and supporters. Of course, that's why the likes of PHIT America wants to fund more physical education, but in this battle, Stand Your Ground is winning the funding race over Fit Enough to Run Away. From the Post:

Although some collegiate teams date to the late 1800s, coaches and team captains say there is a surge of new interest from students, both male and female, ­finally away from their parents and curious to handle one of the country’s most divisive symbols. Once they fire a gun, students say they find shooting relaxing — at MIT, students call it “very Zen” — and that it teaches focusing skills that help in class.

Some also find their perceptions about guns changing.

“I had a poor view, a more negative view of people who like guns than I do now,” said Hope Lutwak, a freshman on MIT’s pistol team. “I didn’t understand why people enjoyed it. I just thought it was very violent.”

And that’s precisely what the gun industry hoped it would hear after spending the past few years pouring millions of dollars into collegiate shooting, targeting young adults just as they try out new activities and personal identities.

So if the numbers are correct on what is inspiring more Americans back to physical activity, it means that when you ask people if they want to go out and shoot some baskets, they'll say yes -- but only if you mean that literally.